The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.

Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

The Buddha taught that wealth does not bring happiness and security. The pursuit of wealth is a matter of living in balance.

Whatever we do, we should see ourselves. Reading books doesn't show us our defilements. Watch yourself. Watch your mind.

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.

The most profound meditation is to think nothing at all.

In true vipassana practice, there is no room for likes and dislikes. There is only observation.

The farther you enter into truth, the deeper it is.

The way is basically perfect. It is not a matter of practice or enlightenment.

Each moment of noting is a moment of purification, a moment of cultivating the path.

There are many ways to meditate. But at the heart of them all is mindfulness.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking.

The person who clings to nothing of the past, present and future, who has no attachment and no aversion, has no conceptual imprints.

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery.

Past thoughts are traceless, clear, and empty. Future thoughts are unborn and fresh. The present moment abides naturally and unconstructed.

The goal of the Buddhist path is not to add something to our existence but to discover something that has been there all along.

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce.

The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something.

Should you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads.

Understanding at the intellectual level is not enough. There must be experience at the actual level.

The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.

The only things that are truly mine are my actions and their results.

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

The path is the goal. Every step of the journey is the journey.

Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom.

The purpose of our lives is to be happy, and happiness is found in benefiting others.